abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic account of the religious practices of the Ammatoa, a Konjo-speaking community of approximately 4600 people living in the southeast uplands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It examines aspects of Ammatoan rituals, cosmology, culture, economy, and politics that, from their point of view, are also considered religious. For the purpose of this dissertation, I understand religion to be ways of relationship between human beings and their fellow humans: the living and the dead, other beings, such as animals, plants, forests, mountains, rivers, and invisible entities such as gods and spirits. This conception of religion provides a better framework for understanding Ammatoan religion because for them religion includes many aspects of everyday life. The Ammatoans divide their land into an inner and an outer territory. The former is the constrained domains for their indigenous religion and the latter is more open to interaction with the outside world. The politics of territorial division has enabled Ammatoans to preserve their indigenous religion and navigate pressures from outside powers (i.e., Islam and modernity). The politics is, in part, a religious manifestation of Ammatoan oral tradition, the Pasang ri Kajang, which is the authoritative reference for all elements of everyday life. By following the tenets of the Pasang, Ammatoans seek to lead a life of kamase-masea, a life of simplicity. I explore how Ammatoans apply, challenge, and manipulate their understandings of the Pasang. Ammatoans demonstrate their religiosity and commitment to the Pasang through participation in rituals. This dissertation explores the diversity of Ammatoan rituals, and examines the connections between these rituals and the values of the Pasang through an extended analysis of one particular large-scale ritual, akkatterek (haircut). This ritual serves to incorporate a child into the wider Ammatoan cosmos. I also explore the encounters between Ammatoan indigenous religion, Islam, and modernity. I argue that the local manifestation of the concepts of Islam and modernity have both influenced and been influenced by Ammatoan indigenous religion. I conclude that despite their conversion to Islam and the intrusion of modernity, Ammatoan indigenous religion persists, albeit as an element of a hybrid cultural complex. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Religious Studies 2012

A syncretic religion born in the 1930s in the Amazonian jungle, Santo Daime today is an international flag-bearer in the evolving New Religion Movement (NRM) landscape. Shamanic power, nature veneration, universal love and the quest for a transcendental divine experience thanks to the psychoactive indigenous plant medicine ayahuasca define the Santo Daime allure for a new middle class disenchanted with capitalism. Church acculturation issues in Miami are linked to a rigid and grueling ritual, pervasive Catholic ethos and a lack of internal bureaucracy leading to declining membership threatening the very survival of the church in Miami. Research methods include ethnographic work, literature review, personal interviews and the exegesis of sacred hymns or hinarios. Relaxing the ritual military ethos and improved marketing on the New-Age religiosity marketplace among others would help Santo Daime acculturate better in Miami, an ideal incubator city for evaluating the melting-pot of migrant, Latin American and Caribbean religions into this region.

of the thesis Backrounds: Rituals have accompanied mankind since the earliest times and have a significant symbolic meaning. Especially when moving from one life cycle and society to another. The rituals help to overcome difficult life situations. For drug users who decided to be treated, the transition between drug addiction and being "clean" can be a difficult life isme. There is a question "Why the drug users perform certain rituals and what do they mean to them?" The aim: The main aim of this thesis is to describe the possible transitions rituals that drug users perform prior to entering treatment. Another focus is taken on the way to find out how these transition rituals are important to drug users before entering treatment and whether specific rituals affect treatment and treatment retention. Methodology: A quantitative research approach was used to obtain the data using semi- structured interview, The respondents were drug users in different types of treatment facilities. For obtainment of researched groups (respondents) there was chosen a method of deliberate selection through specific institutions. The institutions selected for the research group were contact centers for drug addicts, therapeutic communities, psychiatric hospitals and aftercare centers. The data that were processed...

The purpose of the thesis is to examine the relationship between social structure and ritual. It is based on data collected in a peasant village in Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, South India, over a period of twenty-three months 1970-1972). In this village, in which Gavara farmers are the dominant caste, the formal organizing principles of the society are hierarchy and interdependence. A detailed statistical survey of the realities of the society reveals that these principles, while on the whole upheld, are constantly under challenge. Women constantly challenge male dominance in domestic economic affairs and disputes and also play a major role in the high degree of marital instability and divorce. Brothers pursue their own households' interests to the detriment of their interdependent co-operation with each other. Between castes, economic relations do not always conform to a strictly hierarchical pattern. The caste hierarchy itself is a mass of discrepant unreciprocated claims. In the face of these violations and contradictory pressures it is ritual activity and its symbolism which define and uphold the formal conventions of social hierarchy and interdependence. This is achieved through the constant repetition of symbols of respect and in the principal ritual act, puja. This symbolic acting out of hierarchy is thus presented through rituals as the epitome of morality itself. The subordinate role of women is similarly defined by ritual concepts. The woman who is subordinated to her husband is virtuous and auspicious. A woman who becomes a widow is no longer subordinate to an elder male and is inauspicious. Performances of rituals of the major agricultural festivals foster ideal models of inter-caste cooperation by activating responsibilities for castes to participate interdependently. They are, however, also occasions through which numerous political and economic rivalries find expression.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta tese busca compreender o que os rituais funerários contemporâneos revelam sobre as maneiras com as quais as pessoas têm lidado com a morte e o morrer na atualidade. Desse eixo central se ramificam reflexões sobre a relação dos homens com o tempo, com o envelhecimento e com a finitude. Evidenciando que os modos atuais de lidar com a morte e o morrer envolvem flagrantes processos de mercantilização, patologização, medicalização e espetacularização. O crescente uso de serviços funerários de tanatoestética apontam não somente técnicas de maquiagem dos mortos, mas também estratégias de maquiagem da morte. O investimento financeiro, antes direcionado às preocupações transcendentes com o futuro da alma do morto, se reverte em intervenções físicas no corpo morto, de maneira que ele não emita sinal algum da morte que o tomou e proteja os sobreviventes do contato com a finitude. Essa dissimulação é sinalizada pela redução progressiva do espaço que a sociedade contemporânea tem destinado ao luto e ao sofrimento, categorias com cada vez mais frequência equiparadas a condições patológicas. Utilizando metodologia qualitativa, com pesquisa de campo realizada tanto no Brasil como em Portugal, durante período de doutorado sanduíche no exterior, observou-se um acentuado estreitamento entre as realidades morte e consumo. Indicando uma transposição da lógica comercial de mercado às práticas funerárias tradicionais. Assim, funções simbólicas dos rituais fúnebres vem sendo modificadas e regidas pela lógica do consumo, apresentado na atualidade como alternativa unidimensional para a imperativa vivência initerrupta do prazer e da felicidade. Constatou-se que - apesar da crescente popularização de discussões sobre o tema morte no meio acadêmico, na área da saúde e na mídia - não há aceno de ruptura no seu enquadramento como tabu. Apenas é permitido socialmente que ela ocupe locais determinados: o lugar de espetáculo, de produto, da técnica, da banalização ou mesmo do humor publicitário. As observações e as reflexões realizadas em todo o processo de construção desta tese nos inclinam a considerar que continua vedado o aprofundamento de questões ligadas à expressão de sentimentos de dor e de pesar diante das perdas. Assim como se acentuam os processos de patologização do luto e de distanciamento das demandas existênciais promovidas pela consciência da própria finitude e da passagem do tempo; do tempo de vida de cada um / This thesis aims to understand what the contemporary funeral rituals reveal about the ways used by people to deal with death and dying nowadays. From that central concept, new reflections ramify about the relation-ship between men and time, related to growing old and being finite. Its made evident that the modern ways of dealing with death and dying involve flagrant marketing, pathological, medical and speculative processes. The fast growing presence of tanatoaesthetics in funerary services points out not only some make-up techniques of the dead, but also the existence of make-up strategies of death. The financial investment, directed in the past to transcendental worries such as the future of the deceaseds soul, is reverted into physical interventions in the deceaseds body, so it wont show any signal of the death that took it and, in that way, protect the living from the contact with the finite. That conceal is marked by the progressive reduction of the space that our modern society assign to the mourning and the suffering, categories that each day are more often compared to pathologies. Using a qualitative methodology ̶ sustained by a field study developed both in Brazil and Portugal during a doctorate exchange period ̶, we observed an emphasized narrowing between the realities of death and consumerism. It indicated a transposition of the market commercial logic to the traditional funerary practices. Therefore, the symbolic functions of funerary rituals have been modified and regulated by the consumerism logic, present nowadays as a one-dimensional alternative to the imperative experience of the never-ending placer and happiness. We have confirmed that ̶ although the growing popularization of arguments about death as a topic in the Academic, health and media environment ̶ there isnt a breaking point from its definition as a taboo. Society only allows it to occupy specific places such as: a show, a product, a technic, a triviality and even a humorous topic in publicity. The observations and reflections developed while writing this thesis incline us to consider the existence of a banned deepening in subjects connected to expressing feelings of pain and sadness when facing the loses. Also, the process of considering as pathologic the mourning as well as the distance from the existential demands promoted by the consciousness of the finite and the passing of time; each of us lifetime

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as formas a partir das quais os evangélicos vivenciam a morte. Tendo em vista uma revisão da bibliografia, a autora aponta para o fato de que a ortodoxia pentecostal apresenta a morte como um evento irreversível diante do qual não existem possibilidades de negociação com o sagrado em favor dos que partiram nem mecanismos de interação entre vivos e mortos. Esse modelo contrasta com o que foi convencionalizado pela tradição católica e que é reconhecido como sendo indicativo da riqueza dos ritos de morte no Brasil. Nesta tese, a autora desenvolve um trabalho etnográfico no distrito da Praia de Mauá, em Magé, no Rio de Janeiro, procurando compreender como os evangélicos experimentam o enlutamento e o ritualizam para além do que rege a sua ortodoxia. Ao observar os contextos da cidade, do cemitério, das igrejas e das casas dos evangélicos durante processos de enterro e luto, a autora argumenta que o enfrentamento da morte e a avaliação do destino dos mortos levam em consideração negociações que têm como referência a cosmologia do catolicismo, que é re-interpretada a partir de diversos termos, tais como os modelos de pessoa socialmente aceitos e a possibilidade de conforto emocional dos enlutados. Neste sentido, na relação entre as religiões, a tese coloca em destaque antes dinâmicas de encapsulamento e compartilhamento do que de colapso e contraste. / This thesis is focused on the ways the evangelical people experience the death. The literature review evidenced that the Pentecostal orthodoxy presents the death as an irreversible event, so there are no possibilities to deal with the sacred in order to favor the ones who had already gone and no ways to interact them with the living ones. This point of view contrasts with the one that has been conventionalized by the Catholic tradition, recognized as indicating the richness of Brazilian deaths rites. Our research shows an ethnographic work in the district of Praia de Maua, in Magé, Rio de Janeiro, intending to contribute to the comprehension of how evangelicals experience the funeral patterns and ritualize them, exceeding their orthodoxy. Observing evangelicals city, cemetery, churches and homes during burial and mourning processes, it was possible to argue in this thesis that to face the death and to evaluate the deads fate take into account negotiations which refers to the Catholicism cosmology. The Catholicism cosmology is re-interpreted from a variety of terms, such as models of socially acceptable person and the possibility of emotional comfort among the bereaved ones. Therefore, in the relationship between religions, this work emphasizes the encapsulation and sharing dynamics rather than the collapse and contrast. .

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-10-18Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:36:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 catib_nom_me_rcla.pdf: 3876729 bytes, checksum: b170b0042d6eb2069f4d0b4b5c0e0375 (MD5) / Esse estudo teve como objetivo identificar quais as matrizes presentes nas danças indígenas que aparecem nas danças circulares na contemporaneidade. Trata-se de um estudo de natureza qualitativa, envolvendo uma pesquisa exploratória, desenvolvida por meio de entrevista estruturada, aplicada a uma amostra intencional constituída por 13 sujeitos adultos, de ambos os sexos, com faixas etárias variadas, integrantes da Aldeia do Aguapeú, os quais encontravam-se diretamente envolvidos com os rituais de danças indígenas na população Guarani M’Bya, Município de Mongaguá, SP. Os dados foram analisados descritivamente, utilizando-se a Técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temático. Os resultados indicam que os Cantos e as danças sagradas são considerados comuns a todas as cerimônias celebrativas indígenas, independente de datas especiais. Os rituais das danças, quando vivenciadas na opy, são como forma de conexão com os Deuses e, do lado de fora da opy, têm o intuito de reunir a comunidade para vivenciar a diversão. Isso demonstra que essas danças inserem-se, tanto nos contextos do sagrado, como no profano, evidenciado no campo do lazer. As danças executadas na comunidade foram: dança Xondaro e dança de Terreiro vivenciadas em círculo. A dança Xondaro é praticada apenas pelo sexo masculino, num contexto de luta semelhante ao da capoeira, com treinamento específico, cujo objetivo é os indígenas permanecerem mais fortes, tanto fisicamente como espiritualmente, além de protegerem a si próprios e à opy. A dança do Terreiro, em círculo, é praticada anteriormente a qualquer apresentação na opy, durante todas às noites, conduzida pelo Pajé, na forma de oração a Nhanderú. As danças indígenas praticadas em circulo preservam importantes experiências com relação aos aspectos simbólicos, bem como, a expressão do sagrado, aspectos que também são identificados... / This study aimed to identifying which of the present matrices in the indian dances that appear in the contemporary circle dances. This qualitative study involved an exploratory research developed through a structured interview, applied to an intentional sample consisted of 13 adult of both sexes, different age groups, members of the Aldeia do Aguapeú, which were directly involved with the rituals of Indian dances in the Guarani population M'Bya, Mongaguá, SP. Data were descriptively analyzed, using Thematic Content Analysis Technique. The results indicate that the songs and sacred dances are considered common to all the commemorative ceremonies, regardless specific dates. The ritual dances, when experienced in opy represent a way of connecting with the Gods and, outside of opy they promote gathering of the community to pleasant experiences. This demonstrates that these dances fall in both contexts the sacred and the profane, evidenced in the field of leisure. The dances which were performed in the community were Xondaro dance and Terreiro dance, both danced in a circle. The Xondaro dance is practiced only by males, in a context of struggle similar to Capoeira, with specific training, whose purpose is that the Indians becoming stronger, both physically and spiritually, and protect themselves and opy. The Terreiro dance was practiced in a circle prior to any presentation at opy during every evening, led by the Shaman in the form of prayer to Nhanderu. The Indian dances practiced in a circle preserve important experiences regording the symbolical aspects, like the sacred expression, aspects that are identifieds in the circle dances. Therefore, it was evident that those dances preserve some characteristics of the Indian dances, considering that the circular of those dances is associated with a ritualization

Las ofrendas quechuas del sur del Perú son platos alimenticios, banquetes destinados principalmente a la pachamama y los apus, pero también elaborados sistemas matemáticos regidos por operaciones sofisticadas. Sirviéndose de dos números fundamentales, el 3 y el 4, los especialistas rituales son capaces de transmitir mensajes polisémicos. Mediante el número 3 aglutinan clientes, parajes y cerros, en suma, «personas» capaces de interactuar entre sí. El 3 aparece en los k’intus de hojas de coca y en las oraciones que se recitan durante el proceso de realizar la ofrenda. Por el contrario, el número 4 no indica relaciones sino formas espaciales: es un operador geométrico que unifica la servilleta ceremonial (unk’uña), el papel envoltorio y el paquete acabado para representar las cuatro direcciones del mundo y hacer de la ofrenda un mundo en miniatura. Gracias a los dos números el ritualista puede recrear el cosmos, establecer convenios con los dioses y definir nuevas situaciones favorables para la vida de sus clientes. / The Quechua offerings in the South of Peru are banquets dedicated to the Pachamama and the Apus, and at the same time, are elaborated mathematical systems controlled by sophisticated operations. Using two principal numbers, 3 and 4, the religious specialist is capable of transmitting polysemic messages. Through the number 3, the religious specialist refers to the people, landscapes and mountains, in sum, to «persons» able to interact among themselves. The number 3 appears in the k’intus, composed of coca leaves, also in the prayers said during the process of the offering ritual. On the contrary, the number 4 does not indicate relationships but spatial forms: it is a geometrical operator that is constructed of the ceremonial square napkin (unk’uña) and paper in which the offering is completely wrapped to make the offering a miniature world, containing the «four directions of the world.» Using these numbers, the religious specialist can recreate the cosmos, establish covenants with the gods and define new situations favorable to the life of Quechuas.

abstract: This study is based on a submission of anthropological, historical, and literary approaches. The ethnographic study of the Shi'a holy shrines between November 2011 and January 2012 is based on my visit to Iraq. The study lasted almost ten weeks, to include the two events under discussion: `Ashurā and Al-Arb`ain, in Karbala of that year. This thesis argues that the mourning rituals of `Ashurā and the Forty Day Visitation Zyarat Al-Arb`ain contribute to the social or individual life of Iraqi Shi'a. They also make significant contributions through creating a symbolic language to communicate for the community, as well as communicating with their essential symbolic structure. Second, the Forty Day Visitation Zyarat Al-Arb`ain is one of the most significant collective mourning rituals, one that expresses unity and solidarity of the Iraqi Shi'a community, and helps them to represent their collective power, and maintain their collective existence. This study uses two of Victor Turner's tripartite models. For `Ashurā the rite of passage rituals is used, which consists of the separation, margin, and re-aggregation phase. Through this process of entering and leaving time and social structure, it helps in changing the social status of the participants. The other model used for Al-Arb`ain is pilgrimage as a social process, which includes three levels of communitas: existential, normative, and ideological communitas. The Shi'a in Iraq are holding a position similar to Turner's notion of communitas since they are living within a society that is Muslim and yet even though they are a larger population of the society, they still become marginalized by the Sunni population socially, economically, and politically. Social relations and links play a significant role for Shi'a in `Ashurā and Al-Arb`ain as a reflection between their social status as an undefined communitas and the general structure of Iraqi society. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Religious Studies 2012

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / Esta dissertaÃÃo visa descrever e interpretar as prÃticas mÃgico-religiosas dos ogÃs, as pessoas responsÃveis por tocar tambores e fazer circular energias espirituais, em terreiros de umbanda omolocà de naÃÃo. A pesquisa foi realizada no Abassà de Omolu e Ilà de IansÃ, terreiro situado na cidade de Fortaleza, no bairro Joaquim TÃvora. Proponho uma abordagem antropolÃgica orientada em leituras sobre a magia. Por esse motivo, e ao contrÃrio dos diversos trabalhos que abordam as prÃticas dos ogÃs e a musicalidade em terreiros de religiÃes afro-brasileiras, opto pela denominaÃÃo prÃticas mÃgico-religiosas como alternativa à expressÃo prÃticas musicais. Tais prÃticas serÃo aqui compreendidas tendo como foco as giras, rituais pÃblicos de incorporaÃÃo de entidades espirituais. / Esta dissertaÃÃo visa descrever e interpretar as prÃticas mÃgico-religiosas dos ogÃs, as pessoas responsÃveis por tocar tambores e fazer circular energias espirituais, em terreiros de umbanda omolocà de naÃÃo. A pesquisa foi realizada no Abassà de Omolu e Ilà de IansÃ, terreiro situado na cidade de Fortaleza, no bairro Joaquim TÃvora. Proponho uma abordagem antropolÃgica orientada em leituras sobre a magia. Por esse motivo, e ao contrÃrio dos diversos trabalhos que abordam as prÃticas dos ogÃs e a musicalidade em terreiros de religiÃes afro-brasileiras, opto pela denominaÃÃo prÃticas mÃgico-religiosas como alternativa à expressÃo prÃticas musicais. Tais prÃticas serÃo aqui compreendidas tendo como foco as giras, rituais pÃblicos de incorporaÃÃo de entidades espirituais. / This paper aims to describe and interpret the magical-religious practices of ogÃs, the people responsible for drumming and circulate spiritual energies, in houses of Umbanda Omolocà de NaÃÃo. The research was conducted at the Abassà de Omolu and Ilà de IansÃ, located in Fortaleza, in the neighbourhood of Joaquim TÃvora. An anthropological approach based in readings about magic is proposed. Therefore, despite the fact that are many researches about ogÃs actions and musicalities in houses of afro-Brazilian religions, this paper intends to denominate magical-religious actions as an alternative to the expression of musical actions. These actions will be focused on giras, public rituals of incorporation of spirituals entities. / This paper aims to describe and interpret the magical-religious practices of ogÃs, the people responsible for drumming and circulate spiritual energies, in houses of Umbanda Omolocà de NaÃÃo. The research was conducted at the Abassà de Omolu and Ilà de IansÃ, located in Fortaleza, in the neighbourhood of Joaquim TÃvora. An anthropological approach based in readings about magic is proposed. Therefore, despite the fact that are many researches about ogÃs actions and musicalities in houses of afro-Brazilian religions, this paper intends to denominate magical-religious actions as an alternative to the expression of musical actions. These actions will be focused on giras, public rituals of incorporation of spirituals entities.